The chart above shows the buildup to 120 ships as decommissioned hulls were returned to active duty. It also shows the increasing and changing number of conversions and then declining totals due to losses and retirements.

The chart linked from the tab above gives details for each ship in original destroyer hull number order.

As 1940 began, with World War II already under way in Europe, the US Navy had 170 flush-deckers in and out of commission. After fifty were transferred to the Royal Navy later that year, 120 hulls remained; these included 101 in commission, 18 of which were conversions.

RESURRECTIONS

Three additional flush-deck hulls found application during World War II.

On 13 February 1943, the former Turner (DD 259), was recommissioned as USS Moosehead (IX 98) and thereafter used for training and testing electronic equipment at sea. As flagship of RAdm. Francis C. Denebrink, Commander, Operational Training Command, Pacific (COTCP), she became, in some respects, the best-equipped destroyer in the fleet and instrumental in the evolution of the Combat Information Center (CIC).

The former Thompson (DD 305), was sold for scrap in 1930 but instead used as a floating restaurant in San Francisco. In February 1944, the Navy repurchased and towed her onto a mud flat in South Bay between the San Mateo and Dumbarton Bridges as a bomb target for Army and Navy aircraft.

The stricken Taylor (DD 94), moored at Philadelphia Navy Yard, was designated as a damage control hulk (DCH 40) in 1940. During the summer of 1942, her bow was used to replace the damaged bow of Blakeley; the remainder of her hulk was retained until 1945.